Tenderness is one of the main determinants of meat quality and therefore its market value. Tenderness is a measure of the force required to shear muscle tissue and is influenced by the nature of the myofibrils in the muscle and the extent of collagen in the muscle. Collagen is a long, stiff protein comprising three separate molecules composed of amino acid chains, twisted around each other, making the collagen difficult to shear. The more collagen there is in a piece of meat, the tougher it is to cut and therefore to chew.